Gourmet Extravaganza

Well, now it’s October and the weather has cooled down, the Bugle crew are all feeling far less like wilted lettuce leaves and much more like eating proper food. And though the barbecue season is on its way out, the autumn round of entertaining has just begun. To celebrate this fact, our Belgian friend Dominique has kindly provided the Bugle with one of her outstanding recipes — for those of you who don’t know, Dominique and her family own a house in the old town of Rethymnon. They have been responsible for hosting some truly excellent fusion dinner parties over the years, combining the best of Cretan and Belgian cuisine. This recipe comes highly recommended by the Bugle tasting team!

Trio of Grey Shrimps - Belgian and Cretan Style

Dominique explains:
“Crete, land of plenty”, with this slogan aromatic herbs and spices of the finest quality are sold all over the island.
On Crete there is everything you need (this way we can survive on our own without the mainland), so I ask myself, why during the past seven years have I carried tons of food from Belgium to this “Land of plenty”? Well, It all started in 2000. I was preparing for our house warming party in Rethymnon, and people here had expressed a wish to taste some Belgian dishes. This led to a secret mission involving herrings (my husband didn’t know it at the time, but he flew to Crete with 25 herrings hidden in his suitcase), pastry cases for vol-au-vents, 5 kilo of spare-ribs and last but not least, grey shrimps. As the years have gone by, concessions have been made, and here you will find a recipe for a trio of grey shrimps which does not require the purchase of plane tickets….

For a trio of grey shrimps you need:
Grey shrimps, don’t waste your time searching for them on Crete, so unless you are bringing them from Belgium, pink FROZEN (my God) shrimps will have to do (Lidl has a good selection).

• Omelette with shrimps:
  parsley, eggs, cream, salt and pepper
• Salad with shrimps:
  lettuce, tomato, hard boiled eggs, salt and pepper
  Cocktail sauce – mayonnaise, ketchup, lemon and orange juice, whisky, gin and brandy — yes, not just whisky, why do you think it’s called ‘cocktail sauce’?
• Potatoes (here we go again) in their jacket:
  a medium potato each chopped spring onions, real butter (lots), salt and pepper

Method:

Omelette:
Beat the eggs with the cream and the chopped parsley, season well, and start cooking the mixture in a suitable pan. After a few minutes add the (defrosted!) shrimps, and put a lid on the pan, cook until the omelette is more or less dry, but not too dry…. Put the omelette on a plate and let it cool down.
Salad:
Take a whisky glass/tumbler a person and put the fine chopped lettuce on the bottom, peel the tomatoes—this is quicker if you blanch them for 10 seconds in boiling water, you can throw them into the same pan as the eggs (you have remembered to start boiling the eggs, haven’t you?!), the eggs won’t complain and your spouse has one less pan to clean when doing the dishes. De-seed the tomatoes, chop them, put them on the salad and add the shrimps. Now comes the real work: use equal amounts of whisky, gin and brandy, mix together with mayonnaise and the orange and lemon juice, stir well. Add enough ketchup to make the sauce a nice pink colour, taste and season. Pour the sauce onto the shrimps and decorate with chopped hard boiled eggs.
Potatoes in their jacket:
Wash the potatoes and boil them, use a souvlaki skewer to make sure they are done (this way you only make one hole, whereas with a fork….) and strain. Let them cool down a little. Slit lengthwise and scoop out the middle with a teaspoon, reserve the potato shells. Mash the potatoes roughly and for once the Cretan potatoes will do what you want…..You have misled them: until now they thought they would end up as ordinary potatoes in their jackets and they have behaved, they had no idea that they would have the pleasure of meeting Miss Spring Onion and Mr Butter. Wait until they hear about the shrimps! Mix the mash with the melted butter and the chopped onions, season well with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Fill the potatoes and put in the oven to heat. Add the thawed shrimps a few minutes before you take the potatoes out of the oven. The shrimps don’t have to be very hot, if they are too hot they look like plastic and they taste like plastic.

To Serve:

Arrange for each person on a plate: a glass filled with shrimp salad, a filled potato with (more) melted butter on top, a piece of omelette on some salad. To accompany: a Doulafakis Sauvignon Blanc 2006. ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cocktail of the Month: Gloom Chaser

We enjoy autumn on Crete, but occasionally long periods of rain can make one feel a bit down…. The Bugle Booze Brigade actually found two versions of this cocktail—the only common ingredient being grenadine. We suggest you try them both and see which one cheers you up the most.
1: ¼ Grand Marnier, ¼ White Curacao, ¼ Grenadine, ¼ Lemon Juice. Shake.
2: 1 ½ oz. Dry Gin (yes, this came from an old English book using Imperial Measures), 1 oz. Dry Vermouth, ½ teaspoon Grenadine, 2 dashes Pernod. Shake and strrain into a cocktail glass.